Yes, I Really Am That Busy

There was a time, not so long ago, when I was busy, busy, busy. At least I thought I was.

I told people I worked 60 hours a week. I claimed to sleep six hours a night. As I lamented to anyone stuck next to me at parties, I was basically too busy to breathe. Me time? Ha!

Now I work 45 hours a week and sleep close to eight hours a night. But I’m not getting any less done.

Laura Vanderkam is an author of a book about how you probably have more time than you think. We want to go to the gym, but we just don’t have time! We would cook dinner every night if we just had the time! Vanderkam argues in the WSJ that it’s not that we don’t have the time, but we’re not making these things a priority. She also argues that it’s likely that we perceive time in our minds incorrectly: “I would have guessed I spent hours doing dishes when in fact I spent minutes. I spent long stretches of time lost on the Internet or puttering around the house, unsure exactly what I was doing.”

Maybe this will make me sound like a jerk, but I am one of those people who feels like I’m really busy, and I don’t think I’m lying to myself about that. I probably wouldn’t tell people that I work 60 hours a week — because, way to #humblebrag about having a job — but I am working a significant amount of time because I have more than one job (#humblebrag). I will concede that people do have issues with time management, and I used to be one of those people. It really is about prioritizing — if you’re losing long stretches of time on the Internet instead of doing whatever your job is, that’ll explain why you feel like you don’t have any time to get things done. But don’t forget to read The Billfold! It’s a priority.

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